Expensive tomatoes: UP minister Pratibha Shukla tells people to stop eating them or grow at home
1 min read 23 Jul 2023, 10:53 PM ISTIf people will stop eating tomatoes, the prices will inevitably come down, says Pratibha Shukla
PremiumAmid sky high prices of tomatoes across the country, Uttar Pradesh minister Pratibha Shukla on Sunday said that if tomatoes are expensive, people should grow them at home or stop eating them.
“If tomatoes are expensive, people should grow them at home. If you stop eating tomatoes, the prices will inevitably come down. You can also eat lemon instead of tomato. If nobody is eating tomatoes, the prices will come down," said Shukla, the UP minister of state for women development and child nutrition.
Citing an example of the nutrition garden in Asahi village, she said that there is a solution to this inflation, plant tomatoes at home. They are expensive all the time and if you do not eat tomatoes then use lemon, whatever is more expensive, discard it. It will automatically become cheaper.
“We have made a nutrition garden in Asahi village, the women in the village have made a nutrition garden, and tomatoes can also be planted in it. There is a solution to this inflation, this is not new, tomatoes are expensive all the time. If you do not eat tomatoes then use lemon, whatever is more expensive, discard it, it will automatically become cheaper," she said.
Meanwhile, minister of state consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Friday said that the Department of Consumer Affairs monitors the daily prices of 22 essential food commodities including tomatoes.
To check the current increase in prices of tomatoes and make them available to consumers at affordable prices, the minister said the government has started the procurement of tomatoes under Price Stabilisation Fund and is making them available at a highly subsidised rate to consumers.
Choubey said the National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) are continuously procuring tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra and making them available at affordable prices in major consuming centres in Delhi-NCR, Bihar and Rajasthan after subsidizing the price to the consumers.
“The tomatoes have been disposed initially at retail price of ₹90 per kg which has been reduced to ₹80 per kg from July 16 and further reduced to ₹70 per kg from July 20," said the minister while responding to a query.
(With inputs from ANI)
